"Although nothing, not even time, can heal the pain of losing a cherished family member or friend, Memory Bears do provide a sense of comfort to those grieving. Hospice isn’t about giving up hope — it’s about finding hope and creating lasting memories."
This my journey about making these bears as volunteer for Sharp HospiceCare.

Mar 9, 2010

These bears are a little different because they are made for the family of a young man who is serving in Iraq. A friend was over and admired some bears I had just finished making. She felt the life force in them and understood the comfort they would bring to the family members.

Later she was telling my about her cousin who was going to be leaving for Iraq soon and how anxious her relatives were about his leaving to serve our country. I offered to make a bear for them to have as comfort until he returned. With the holidays and then a trip for her and a trip for me, it took awhile to get these bears made, but they are complete now.

This was my first time to work with T-shirts and I was a little apprehensive. Turns out they are a bit easier to work with in many ways because of the stretch factor. I smile at that because the stretch factor is what I was concerned about. I did need to interface every piece of the pattern in order for it to work. Must make a mental note of that for future bears!

Here are the James Bears, all spiffy and ready to go to their owners. These were my first bears who needed pattern matching and I worked hard to make that happen. I think they turned out very nice. The bear on the left is from a well worn shirt so I had to be careful laying out the pattern to match the plaid and avoid holes and stains. I see his collar is a bit askew but that can be fixed. The bear on the right was made from a shirt that had probably never been worn. I was glad to discover that by being in the same bag for storage both shirts had the scent of the owner. I know that means a lot to the people who get them.

Well, I turned them around and they switched place. I'm telling you, James Bears had real personalities while they were being made. The pockets in the back are for any little mementos the owners want to keep.